Starting next month in September, I am going to teach a course called “The Image of God.” In it, we’ll be talking about the vast revealed mystery of what it means to bear God’s image and of what having human dignity implies. One aspect of having been created in the likeness of the Most High God is that of copying God by exercising freedom. God is free. God has never been beholden to anyone but God’s Self.
To be free is to be like God. That is not to say it is God-like to freely indulge oneself at the expense of others. Real freedom has to do with being released to be creative for the sake of sharing love. Having freedom to initiate and freedom to respond in authentic expressions of honesty, appreciation, and goodwill is part of what it means to be human. People can’t be full people if we are bound up by forces that deprive us of the opportunity to make decisions. (Think of what that means within the context of good parenting, good supervising, good marketing,, and good governance.)
On this theological basis, one could also argue that it is only right for the economy to be free. Who would guess that the doctrine of imago Dei informs how we should organize our systems of buying and selling? The doctrine of the image of God penetrates every area of human involvement. To continue with this example, students are often taught in left-leaning universities that if the government controls the economy for the sake of businesspeople, that is capitalism–and that is bad–but if the government controls the economy for the working class, that is socialism – and that is good. Notice neither option promulgates freedom. The best kind of economy is not government controlled. Because people are made in the image of God, a robust, free economy calls for the separation of economics and state.
For the government to tamper with markets and the larger economy is for the government to hinder true freedom. A predictable counter-argument to this is that people need the government to control the economy because otherwise riches and resources are not distributed equitably, much less e quallyunfairly. Question: Has any government ever in world history successfully distributed wealth such that all people were endowed with the same amount of money? Obviously, the answer is “no” – not by a longshot. Governments are typically run by people who make sure that they, as government workers, are extra privileged financially. Distributors of money so often pocket that money by issuing themselves perks.
What does this have to do with the image of God? Well, it has to do with people being free to do the right thing, so that we can creatively work to take care of each other. Freedom is the first principle of love. We need freedom, not government control over the people, in order to maximize our productivity, so we can share the bounty with everyone in the world.
I know it’s unrealistic, due to sin, to think people will be so humane as to use their freedom for the purpose of loving each other at an economic level. But it makes sense to set ourselves up for maximum success by taking seriously the fact that we need freedom in order to fully bear God’s image.
How can we, as believers, help foster human freedom for the sake of honoring God and God’s design for people to act on God’s behalf? We are made in the image of God, so that we can rule like God.
What if churches were filled with sages and wise teachers and preachers and pastors who taught people to imitate God by taking responsibility to use their freedom consciously and deliberately for good? Ephesians 5:1 says, “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children.” Like kids emulating their parents, we are supposed to be emulating God. We should all be ducklings imprinting on God. Since God is free, the ideal is for humanity, for every individual human being, to be free.
This barely scratches the surface of what imago Dei freedom entails, but I hope it stokes your mind to see that thinking Christianly means thinking very practically,, even about economic policy.
How much more confidence, self-respect, and wise action would happen if every Christian in the world understood what it means to bear the image of God? Every aspect of life traces back to us being created in the likeness of our Creator.
Read the full August Update
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